After a long stay in a psychiatric clinic, a woman of Italian descent, in order to escape a traumatic past, decides to open a restaurant in Davenport, a quiet town in the state of Iowa. She rents the first floor of Snakes Hall, a dreary old boarding house for elderly women run by nuns and vacant for years, but the building seems to hide a terrible secret behind the walls. The woman, awakened every night by a strange voice, decides to investigate...
Pupi Avati (La Casa dalle Finestre che ridono, L'Arcano Incantatore, Zeder) returns to make a foray into the horror genre and dusts off a super-classic narrative location, that of the cursed house, incorporating elements of giallo and psychological thriller, but imprinting the product of his signature and old cinema with self-quotations in the final part (La Casa dalle Finestre che ridono). It is not a particularly propitious period for Italian genre cinema, but with Il Nascondilgio Pupi Avati sweeps away any pessimistic thoughts by giving us a film with an unforgettable old style (dark and stormy nights, the light that comes and goes, excursions to the attic, gothic elements...).
Il Nascondiglio remains a carefully crafted film, directed with a steady hand and a great sense of framing by the director, who employs a really solid Italian-American cast that always manages to express character psychology to the fullest.
All this is framed by a splendid soundtrack, tension always on the edge, and shots that reach peaks of excellence and elegance.
Review by Lady of sorrow
